Issues in Scholarly Communication is a newsletter produced by Paula Kaufman, University Librarian and Dean of Libraries, for the Illinois community. Entries from 2001-2005 newsletter are available.
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The renegade editorial board of the journal Topology, which resigned en masse last summer, has started up a rival -- and cheaper -- journal to challenge the venerable title, which is put out by the publishing giant Elsevier. The board revolted largely over Elsevier's pricing policies, which have drawn complaints from mathematicians and led some researchers to boycott Topology, said members of the board. After finishing out 2006 as editors, they formally stepped down and a few weeks later announced that they would create the Journal of Topology, to be published by the London Mathematical Society.
For institutions the annual price of the new quarterly journal will be $570, compared with Topology's $1,665 for six issues per year. In terms of subject area, the challenger is similar to the original, said Ulrike Tillmann, managing editor of the new journal and a professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford. "We are looking for very high-quality papers."
As of mid-January, she said, the Elsevier Web site continued to list Ms. Tillmann and the other former editors as members of the editorial board of Topology. Elsevier has since removed the page describing Topology's editorial board and does not list any current editors. In its guide for authors, though, it still suggests sending manuscripts to the now-resigned editors. In an e-mail message, Robert E. Ross, publisher of pure-mathematics journals for Elsevier, said the company planned to make an announcement about Topology, and "it would be premature to comment in detail at this point."
Don Davis, a professor of mathematics at Lehigh University, who conducts an online discussion group for nearly 800 topologists worldwide, said Topology's future looks bleak. "I'm anticipating the Elsevier journal will cease to exist," he said.
Chronicle of Higher Education 2/2/07
Posted by P. Kaufman at February 2, 2007 8:45 AM
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